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Phineas Redux

Phineas Redux

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Chapter 1 TEMPTATION.

Word Count: 4625    |    Released on: 30/11/2017

ters previous to that,-somewhat rapid, very exciting, and, upon the whole, useful as showing the real feeling of the country upon sundry questions of public interest. Mr. Gresham had been Prime Minis

, who certainly for some years previous had not received their share of State honours or State emoluments. And Mr. Daubeny was still so sitting, to the infinite

een surpassed, improving upon Fortune, till their natural enemies waxed impatient. There had been as yet but one year of it, and the natural enemies, who had at first expressed themselves as glad that the turn had come, might have endured the period of spoliation with more equanimity. For to them, the Liberals, this cutting up of the Whitehall cake by the Conservatives was spoliation when the privilege of cutting was found to have so much exceeded what had been expected. Were not they, the Liberals, the real representatives of the people, and, therefore, did not the cake in truth appertain to them? Had not they given up the cake for a while, partly, indeed, through idleness and mismanagement, and quarrelling among themselves; but mainly with a feeling that a moderate slicing on the other side would, upon the whole,

efully out-voted in the House of Commons on various subjects. On the last occasion he had gone into his lobby with a minority of 37, upon a motion brought forward by Mr. Palliser, the late Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, respecting decimal coinage. No politician, not even Mr. Palliser himself, had expected that he would carry his Bill in the present session. It was brought forward as a trial of strength; and for such a purpose decimal coinage was as good a subject as any other. It was Mr.

s hands for twelve months; the House was barely two years old; he had no "cry" with which to meet the country; the dissolution was factious, dishonest, and unconstitutional. So said all the Liberals, and it was deduced also that the Conservatives were in their hearts as angry as were their opponents. What was to be gained but the poor

hose who were more advanced could promise the Ballot, and suggest the disestablishment of the Church. But the Government of the day was to be turned out on the score of general incompetence. They were to be made to go, because they could not command majorities. But there ought to have been no dissolut

anagement; no more quarrelling; no more idleness. Was it to be borne that an unprincipled so-called Conservative Prime Minister should go on slicing the cake after such a fashion as that lately adopted? Old

t had always been felt by his old friends that he had been, if not ill-used, at least very unfortunate. He had been twelve months in advance of his party, and had consequently been driven out into the cold. So when the names of good men and true were mustered, and weighed, and discussed, and scrutinised by some active members of the Liberal party in a certain very private room not far remo

iving on the well-founded hope of being a Treasury Secretary

hom no judge in such matters possessed more exp

worth his while," said the Honourable Lauren

, and he can't afford it," said M

ys, the poor thing died of her first baby before it was

old of," said Barrington Erle-"presen

e skirmishing. I'm worth me salt. I say that with a just reliance on me own powers. But Phinny is a different sort of man. Phinny can stick to a desk

m," said Bonteen. Now Mr. Bon

Barrington Erle, making a little note to

the girl of his heart. But now his wife was dead, and he was again alone in the world. One of his friends had declared that money had been left to him. That was true, but the money had not been much. Phineas Finn had lost his father as well as his wife, and had inherited

fice,-as to which there was no public comment, no feeling that such duties were done in the face of the country,-he became sick at heart and discontented. Like the warhorse out at grass he remembered the sound of the battle and the noise of trumpets. After five years spent in the heat and full excitement of London society, life in Ireland was tame to him, and cold, and dull. He did not analyse the difference between metropolitan and quasi-metropolitan manners; but he found that men and women in Dublin were different from those to whom he had been accustomed in London. He had lived among lords, and the sons and daughters of lords; and though the official secretaries and assistant commissioners among whom

t, 9th J

ear

and that there will be a general election about the end of September. We are sure that we shall have such a majority as we never had before; but we are deter

y would not be much. Browborough has sat for the place now for three Parliaments, and seems to think it all his own. I am told that nothing could be easier than to turn him out. You will remember the man-a great, hulking, heavy, speechless fellow, who always used to sit just over Lord Macaw's shoulder. I have made inquiry, a

ther. We have all thought that the loneliness of your present life might perhaps make you willing to come back among u

ever fa

ngton

. It must be understood that there shall not be as much as a glass of beer. I am told that the fellows won't vote for Browborough unless he spends money, and I f

im? Nevertheless, he did tell himself that, when he should have thrown up his place and spent all his money, there would remain to him his own self to be disposed of in a manner that might be very awkward to him. A man owes it to his country, to his friends, even to his acquaintance, that he shall not be known to be going about wanting a dinner, with never a coin in his pocket. It is very well for a man to boast that he is lord of himself, and that having no ties he may do as he plea

nd women with whom he was popular. The very fact of his past parliamentary life had caused him to be regarded as a man of some note among the notables of the Irish capital. Lord Lieutenants were gracious to him, and the wives of judges smiled u

ts and quotations, antagonistic to prudence, with which a man fortifies himself in rashness. "None but the brave deserve the fair." "Where there's a will there's a way." "Nothing venture nothing have." "The sword is to him who can use it." "Fortune favours the bold." But on the other side there is just as much to

sson in London, he was throwing away his hours amidst his present pursuits in Dublin? Did he not owe himself to his country? And then, again, what might not London do for him? Men who had begun as he begun had lived to rule over Cabinets, and to sway the Empire. He had been happy for a short twelvemonth with his young bride,-for a short twelvemonth,-and then she had been taken from him. Had s

at Tankerville, for the consequent petition which had been so generously suggested to him, and maintain himself in London for a session or two should he be so fortunate as to carry his election. Then he would be penniless, with the world before him as a closed oyster to be again opened, and he knew,-no one better,-that this oyster becomes harder and harder in the opening as the man who has to open it

to all the world by Mr. Daubeny an earlier day was suggested; but Mr. Daubeny saw reasons for postponing it for a fortnight. Mr. Daubeny's enemies were again very ferocious. It was all a trick. Mr. Daubeny had no right to continue Prime Minister a day after the decided expression of opinion as to unfitness which had been pronounced by the House of Commons. Men were waxing very wrath. Nevertheless, so much power remained in Mr.

, was not a comfortable counsellor. "So yo

think I migh

were allowed to walk over. There isn't a borough in England more sure to return a Liberal than Tankerville if left to

we can un

the end of his money, and as to his b

me fear of consequences a

? Can you name a single Parliamentary

ineas. "I should not like to have the thin

don't want a good position among their enemies. They know they're safe. When the seat is in dispute everybody is savage enoug

y the old

ame. All the purists in England wouldn't teach him to think that a poor man ought not

ainly

ly bought; but he'll hate you quite as much because you try to rob the borough. He'd tell you if you asked him that he doesn't want his seat for no

ast, if I can

there is no reward beyond the self-satisfaction arising from a good action. However, Ruddles will do the best he can for you, and it certainly is possible that you may creep through." This was very d

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Open
1 Chapter 1 TEMPTATION.2 Chapter 2 HARRINGTON HALL.3 Chapter 3 GERARD MAULE.4 Chapter 4 TANKERVILLE.5 Chapter 5 MR. DAUBENY'S GREAT MOVE.6 Chapter 6 PHINEAS AND HIS OLD FRIENDS.7 Chapter 7 COMING HOME FROM HUNTING.8 Chapter 8 THE ADDRESS.9 Chapter 9 THE DEBATE.10 Chapter 10 THE DESERTED HUSBAND.11 Chapter 11 THE TRUANT WIFE.12 Chapter 12 K NIGSTEIN.13 Chapter 13 I HAVE GOT THE SEAT. 14 Chapter 14 TRUMPETON WOOD.15 Chapter 15 HOW WELL YOU KNEW! 16 Chapter 16 COPPERHOUSE CROSS AND BROUGHTON SPINNIES.17 Chapter 17 MADAME GOESLER'S STORY.18 Chapter 18 SPOONER OF SPOON HALL.19 Chapter 19 SOMETHING OUT OF THE WAY.20 Chapter 20 PHINEAS AGAIN IN LONDON.21 Chapter 21 MR. MAULE, SENIOR.22 Chapter 22 PURITY OF MORALS, FINN. 23 Chapter 23 MACPHERSON'S HOTEL.24 Chapter 24 MADAME GOESLER IS SENT FOR.25 Chapter 25 I WOULD DO IT NOW. 26 Chapter 26 THE DUKE'S WILL.27 Chapter 27 AN EDITOR'S WRATH.28 Chapter 28 THE FIRST THUNDERBOLT.29 Chapter 29 THE SPOONER CORRESPONDENCE.30 Chapter 30 REGRETS.31 Chapter 31 THE DUKE AND DUCHESS IN TOWN.32 Chapter 32 THE WORLD BECOMES COLD.33 Chapter 33 THE TWO GLADIATORS.34 Chapter 34 THE UNIVERSE.35 Chapter 35 POLITICAL VENOM.36 Chapter 36 SEVENTY-TWO.37 Chapter 37 THE CONSPIRACY.38 Chapter 38 ONCE AGAIN IN PORTMAN SQUARE.39 Chapter 39 CAGLIOSTRO.40 Chapter 40 THE PRIME MINISTER IS HARD PRESSED.41 Chapter 41 I HOPE I'M NOT DISTRUSTED. 42 Chapter 42 BOULOGNE.43 Chapter 43 THE SECOND THUNDERBOLT.44 Chapter 44 THE BROWBOROUGH TRIAL.45 Chapter 45 SOME PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF MR. EMILIUS.46 Chapter 46 THE QUARREL.47 Chapter 47 WHAT CAME OF THE QUARREL.48 Chapter 48 MR. MAULE'S ATTEMPT.49 Chapter 49 SHOWING WHAT MRS. BUNCE SAID TO THE POLICEMAN.50 Chapter 50 WHAT THE LORDS AND COMMONS SAID51 Chapter 51 YOU THINK IT SHAMEFUL. 52 Chapter 52 MR. KENNEDY'S WILL.53 Chapter 53 NONE BUT THE BRAVE DESERVE THE FAIR.54 Chapter 54 THE DUCHESS TAKES COUNSEL.55 Chapter 55 PHINEAS IN PRISON.56 Chapter 56 THE MEAGER FAMILY.57 Chapter 57 THE BEGINNING OF THE SEARCH58 Chapter 58 THE TWO DUKES.59 Chapter 59 MRS. BONTEEN.60 Chapter 60 TWO DAYS BEFORE THE TRIAL.61 Chapter 61 THE BEGINNING OF THE TRIAL.62 Chapter 62 LORD FAWN'S EVIDENCE.63 Chapter 63 MR. CHAFFANBRASS FOR THE DEFENCE.64 Chapter 64 CONFUSION IN THE COURT.65 Chapter 65 I HATE HER! 66 Chapter 66 THE FOREIGN BLUDGEON.67 Chapter 67 THE VERDICT.68 Chapter 68 PHINEAS AFTER THE TRIAL.69 Chapter 69 THE DUKE'S FIRST COUSIN.70 Chapter 70 I WILL NOT GO TO LOUGHLINTER. 71 Chapter 71 PHINEAS FINN IS RE-ELECTED.72 Chapter 72 THE END OF THE STORY OF73 Chapter 73 PHINEAS FINN RETURNS TO HIS DUTIES.74 Chapter 74 AT MATCHING.75 Chapter 75 THE TRUMPETON FEUD IS SETTLED.76 Chapter 76 MADAME GOESLER'S LEGACY.77 Chapter 77 PHINEAS FINN'S SUCCESS.78 Chapter 78 THE LAST VISIT TO SAULSBY.79 Chapter 79 AT LAST-AT LAST.80 Chapter 80 CONCLUSION.